Shakespeare's Dramatic GenresThe history of genres, or kinds, of drama is one of contradictory traditions and complex cultural assumptions. The divisions established by the original edition of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (the First Folio, 1623) give shape to whole curricula; but, as Lawrence Danson reminds us in this lively book, there is nothing inevitable, and much unsatisfying, about that tripartite scheme. Yet students of Shakespeare cannot avoid thinking about questions of genre; often they are the unspoken reason why classrooms full of smart people fail to agree on basic interpretive issues. Danson's guide to the kinds of Shakespearean drama provides an accessible account of genre-theory in Shakespeare's day, an overview of the genres on the Elizabethan stage, and a provocative look at the full range of Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies. |
From inside the book
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Page 75
... language . All dramatic characters are made out of words , but these comic heroines assume a conventionally masculine power to control the language of their self - creation . In the tragedies men get the soliloquies : Hamlet may or may ...
... language . All dramatic characters are made out of words , but these comic heroines assume a conventionally masculine power to control the language of their self - creation . In the tragedies men get the soliloquies : Hamlet may or may ...
Page 81
... language echoes the comedy's concern with lost identity , fractured selfhood , and the desire for a complementary ... language to character . In the matches between Kate and Petruccio or Rosaline and Biron he has eroticized that comic ...
... language echoes the comedy's concern with lost identity , fractured selfhood , and the desire for a complementary ... language to character . In the matches between Kate and Petruccio or Rosaline and Biron he has eroticized that comic ...
Page 132
... language that will suffice is a central task for Shakespeare and his characters . But everywhere , although not as obviously as in Titus , the great difficulty of the task is apparent . Hamlet claims that all his expressive means — his ...
... language that will suffice is a central task for Shakespeare and his characters . But everywhere , although not as obviously as in Titus , the great difficulty of the task is apparent . Hamlet claims that all his expressive means — his ...
Contents
The Genres Staged | 30 |
Mr William Shakespeares Comedies | 57 |
History | 86 |
Copyright | |
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